Bob Ford | It's time for Phillies to open the wallet a bit

The easiest money to spend is someone else's, and the Phillies have consistently resisted suggestions about how theirs should be disbursed, but it is baseball free-agent season, and let's take one more whack at the concrete piñata, shall we?

The Phils are at a magical moment - one in which spectacular young talent is crossing the stage in a wonderful ballpark before a fan base that is wildly anxious, dying actually, to reconnect with the game.

It seems the other professional franchises are skiing downhill or stuck in neutral, but that really doesn't matter. Philadelphia is a great baseball town, although that notion fell into disrepair in the last two decades, just like the Phillies. If the baseball team is competitive and likable, it will be popular. If it is popular, people will buy their tickets and give their hearts. That's how it works here.

The core of the current Phillies' roster is both competitive and extremely likable, an almost unprecedented combination. The 1993 team, which turned out to be a brief comet that flared brightly within a decrepit stadium, was insanely popular, particularly among those who didn't have to spend time with the churlish louts. But that group didn't have legs. The new one does, in abundance.

With Brett Myers returned to the rotation, the Phils have two starters - Myers and Cole Hamels - around which a staff can be built for the next decade. In Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero, Tom Gordon and Ryan Madson, there is a back end of the bullpen that should be able to control most games from the seventh inning on.

The offensive motor provided by Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard - with the occasional belch of combustion added by Pat Burrell - is impressive and reliable.

In other words, this team is close, very close, to becoming a dominant team in the National League, which, by the way, is begging to be dominated.

How close? One more starting pitcher, a good everyday centerfielder, and a third baseman who can hit the ball out of the infield occasionally.

I don't know who the third baseman might be. The Phillies will not, and probably shouldn't, pursue Alex Rodriguez or Mike Lowell. That sea change in organizational philosophy won't happen, regardless of the repeated bleating of idle columnists. Forget about it.